


Landlocked blues

by SilverRollu



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-16
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-26 16:49:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5012311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRollu/pseuds/SilverRollu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riku smiles much more easily these days, much more open, but some days his lips were tight. Some days his eyebrows would crease and his eyes would dim and she could see it, almost feel it, the pain in his heart.</p><p>Implied Sorikai;</p>
            </blockquote>





	Landlocked blues

**Author's Note:**

> _As I'm leaving she wakes up and says_   
>  _'I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave_   
>  _Baby don't go away,[ come here'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me85PztkYP0)_

Riku disappears on nights when the moon is gone, resting behind a cover of darkness. Kairi knows when he leaves, despite the fact that he tries his hardest to hide it from her and Sora – she knows him like the back of her hand almost, his habits, his signs and tells. Riku smiles much more easily these days, much more open, but some days his lips were tight. Some days his eyebrows would crease and his eyes would dim and she could see it, almost feel it, the pain in his heart, the hesitation with which he said his words. If she were to sneak out past curfew to his home – as she did most nights, to either of her boys, and like they did to her – he would not answer the thuds at his window.

It doesn't take her long to figure out where he goes on these nights.

She finds him, one night, on their little play island. Even now that they're older they rarely venture to the island at night, not afraid of their parents warnings but wary of the memories. This is where it had started, that darkness, that fated encounter. When she goes there – just her, as Sora had been in much too deep a sleep to be roused by her – he's standing along the shore, shoes off, feet buried in the wet sand and cold water. The waves are relatively calm, and as she approaches him she watches the water slowly lap over his bare ankles.

Kairi tosses her sandals and settles next to him, and Riku is anything but surprised. He's not looking at her, but up at the clouds in the moonless sky, and Kairi briefly wonders if he's looking for something out there. If he's waiting for the worlds to open up and swallow him again, as they had done before, as they had done too many times for him to count. She doesn't move. Riku exhales.

“Are you okay?”

“Mm.”

The waves tickle at Kairi's feet, ice cold. She wiggles her toes and shifts her feet. In time, the water will warm around her, and she won't feel this strange need to withdraw and run away. Riku still hasn't turned to look at her, and she finds she's fine with it, for now.

“It's okay not to be, you know. It's okay.”

Riku exhales again. The waves kick at them, and it's his turn to shift in the water, bringing himself closer to the girl at his side. Their arms brush and Kairi hums, comforted by his body heat. She's not smiling; she doesn't feel the need to.

Riku shakes.

“I'm...” He pauses, swallows. Kairi doesn't have to look to see how his eyes are scanning the empty horizon, searching for. Something. “I'll be okay. Maybe.”

Kairi finally glances over at Riku, takes in the sight of him. His fists clenched at his sides, his head hung low, eyes closed. His shoulders heave with a heavy breath and Kairi takes her chance to close the gap between them, grabs both of his arms and leans up to him. He meets her halfway, and she notes how his lips taste like the sea. When she breathes in he smells like the wind, and when he wraps his arms around her shoulders, tightly, he shakes like the trembling sand beneath her feet, like he would break and crumble and fall through her fingers. Kairi shifts closer and the lukewarm water laps at her ankles again.

Riku chokes on the inhale, face buried in her hair. Kairi shushes him, softly, until there's nothing but the sounds of the ocean against a dark sky.

 


End file.
